Success Happy

Why makes successful small business successful?

I work at a bank and I deal with a lot of customers that have small businesses. Some of them have been running the same, successful for 30 years and others fold within a year or two. A common refrain among those have failed at business is that "government" "regulation" and "taxes" and not their own incompetence were responsible. This strikes me as odd, because there are still many successful businesses owners who operate the same type of operation. Have you ever started your own business, and failed, not because you weren't cut out for it, not because you made poor staffing decisions, not because you weren't a good manager, not because you weren't innovative or hard working but because of "government" "taxes" and "regulation?" And if yes, how did you peers, who were successful when you weren't, manage to contend with the aforementioned insidious forces of evil? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. i find most people create small business trying to compete against big businesses, and you just cant.
2. Most new businesses are fragile. They start out with one expectation about taxes or other costs and to suddenly be hit with new govt. costs they didn't expect is a death knell. The others may have been in business longer and have more of a financial cushion. There are always people that fail, no matter the economic conditions. Sorry guy, this is an inhospitable time for entrepreneurs and it has nothing to do with being 'green'.
3. Success with a small business is a combination of hard work, knowing what the customer wants and a great deal of luck. I stated an office supply and printing company in 1989. The first years were rough with a recession. It might be luck on Clinton's part but after he was elected things turned around and were fine until 2002. It might be luck on my part that Clinton was elected but those were our good years. As far as regulation was concerned, the only regulation I saw was that the EPA didn't want us pouring toxic chemicals used for developing film to make printing plates down bathroom sink. The horror of it all. We had to pour the chemicals back into the original container and take them to a recycle center ever so ofter.
4. Some people have more money to pay for the things the government throws at them, and others just don't have the extra they may need.
5. the government punishes small businesses with fines, taxes and worthless regulations..well most of them are worthless to run a business takes a lot of work, planing and luck 9 out of 10 small businesses fail in the first 18 months but this doesn't mean the owner(s) are incompetent, there are just too many factors once a business if off the ground it is more likely to continue to succeed, its getting it started that is the difficult part, getting good employees, establishing a customer base and name all take time